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Greetings everybody! Since we are officially past the middle of summer (can you believe it?), now is a good time to review what's happening in the local real estate market. There are plenty of stats to share, and although the stats don’t say it all, they say a lot.

Just out of curiosity - when friends from out of town ask you about the market here, is your stock response "It's crazy!"? If the average home price in the US is just over $250k, then yes, there are segments of our market that garner a lot of activity. But more importantly there are certain houses that get a great deal of attention, and therefore offers. Since Fort Collins speaks for Northern Colorado in terms of stats, I looked at May and June (so far) to see if the stats backed up my impression that 2017's market is showing signs of balance. Among my colleagues in the Northern Colorado field, this is a shared impression.

May of 2016 saw 233 home sales in Fort Collins, with a median sale price of $375k and an average days on market (DOM) of 58 days. Contrast that with May of 2017, and there were 256 sales with a median of $410k (an increase of 9%) and avg DOM of 72. Stay with me here...

June 1-28th of 2016 saw 234 home sales, a median sale price of $372k, avg DOM of 59. The same period this year is 255 homes, $405k, 65 DOM, and selling at 101% of list (compared with 100% for the other stats).

The most telling stats are the number of transactions and the days on market. Do more sales equate more activity and therefore a “healthier” market? The big sites like Zillow and Realtor like to say that’s all it means, but I equate it to more inventory and therefore more availability to buyers in the tough "average or below average" price ranges. The increased days on market mean houses aren't going under contract immediately like they have in years past.

What this means to buyers in Fort Collins and the immediate surrounding areas is a better chance at getting a place without having to go nuts on your offer terms. However, this is Northern Colorado I’m talking about. I'm not going to bore you with the stats, but areas like Longmont are getting increasingly competitive. Even Colorado Springs is #8 in the country for lowest days on market, meaning it's among the most competitive markets in the country, let alone the state. Fort Collins, to me, appears to have gone through the hottest part of its streak of year over year price increases due to a lack of inventory.

Bottom line: It's still a seller's market, but it’s showing signs of becoming more of a balanced market with 2-3 months' worth of inventory.